Tag: unwanted calls

Thanks to iOS 10, you can now say good-bye to receiving all those unexpected phone calls from scammers and local telemarketers on your iPhone!

As you update your iPhone to the latest version of iOS, you’ll be able to take advantage of how third-party apps, like Hiya, can now identify and automatically block unwanted calls.

Raving about Hiya’s free application, Lets Unlock iPhone gives you a step-by-step guide to how you can start blocking unwanted spam calls on your iPhone once you download the Hiya app. Check it out, oh and let’s not forget the iPhone 7’s new waterproof feature, by clicking the image below:

You’ve got an iPhone, and you’ve been hearing all about how you now have the ability to identify and block unwanted calls. The thought gives you a little bit of anxiety, since you just realized using the volume buttons when taking photos, has made a world of difference to your selfie game. But now they’re asking you to learn something about this thing called a CallKit? Where do you even start?!

Don’t fret, Hiya’s Vice President of Product, Mayur Kamat, provides you with a step-by-step guide to unlocking your unwanted call identifying and blocking needs. Click on the video to start living life without interruptions:

As the global leader in phone spam protection, it was a nice opportunity for us to introduce our talented team and showcase our work. This included a tour of our newly built network operations center, which provided an insider’s view into how we monitor, analyze and leverage our comprehensive data set to power the products we build.

Recently, the FCC has been recognized for bringing the incessant robocall problem to light and its important role in mobilizing the industry to take action. Robocalls have become a huge consumer problem with more than 10 billion robocalls made to U.S. phone numbers since the beginning of 2016. On July 22, Chairman Wheeler sent letters to all major carriers, demanding actionable plans to address the robocall issue. Soon after, a Robocall Strike Force was created to fight the robocall epidemic, with AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson personally at the helm.

I applaud both the FCC and the Strike Force for their efforts. A good portion of the industry is consequently moving at light speed to solve the problem for consumers. Hiya’s most recent contribution was our launch of Hiya Cloud, which helps carriers prevent robo and other unwanted calls. By integrating at the carrier network level, Hiya Cloud blocks unwanted calls before they reach a user’s phone, regardless of the device type or operating system.

It is our hope that the current momentum continues and that free market forces will motivate businesses to do the right thing. In the long run, what is good for consumers is good for business. Furthermore, I hope that the currently proposed anti-robocall legislation will not be the final answer. The best solution for both carriers and consumers will not be prescribed via inflexible regulation. What’s smart today could have unintended consequences further down the road. Robocallers and fraudsters are remarkably nimble in their tactics, and we need to counter them with agile innovation and flexible business models for years to come.

I believe our meetings this week were insightful for both parties. The FCC is remarkably informed and up-to-speed on the robocall problem, and Chairman Wheeler personally demonstrates great interest in the subject and knowledge of underlying technology. With the FCC’s ongoing support and interest, I feel even more confident that the phone spam and robocaller problem will be eliminated.

We’ve all been guilty of clogging up our smartphones with apps. But over time, some people have learned to limit the number of apps they have on their phones for a variety of reasons, while others are quick to test a cool new app, but soon delete it if it isn’t worth keeping around.

However, no matter how you find and organize the apps you use, it’s all about knowing what to look for in a high-quality mobile app that makes the process easier.

When it comes to a caller ID app that’s versatile and you can see yourself using on a daily basis, it’s even more important to make sure you’re picking the right one.

Here are five things to look for in a mobile caller ID app:

1Awesome data sources: The most immediate advantage offered by a caller ID app is how it identifies incoming calls and text messages. Gone are the days of debating on whether you’ll pick up a call. Now you’ll immediately know if you want to answer, ignore or even block future calls from the number. Because you’ll be making big decisions based on what your app tells you, it’s crucial that the data used by the app is accurate and up to date.Hiya leverages a reliable, consistently updated database to provide you the best info possible.

2ID for both text and calls: The use of texting has become a practical and easy alternative to phone calls, it makes so much more sense, that many people want to identify not only voice calls, but text messages too. A caller ID app that doesn’t provide this service means limited effectiveness and a lot of time spent trying to figure out who is texting you and why.Hiya delivers info on incoming calls and texts, giving you complete coverage on both methods of communication.

3Detect and avoid spam: Why go through the process of determining if an incoming call is spam when the right app can do it for you? Hiya not only identifies the person or company trying to call your phone, it also lets you know if that person has been reported in the past as a telemarketer, scammer or annoying caller. With that initial information, you can choose to ignore those calls and avoid what could be a costly phone call.

4Block unwanted callers: Having more control over your calls means you should also get to choose which calls you receive. Finding a caller ID app that gives you that capability will brighten up your day because it stops unwanted calls from interrupting you. Hiya lets you block any phone number—spam or not. So whether you want to block that telemarketer, or don’t ever want to take a call from your ex again, Hiya has you covered.

5Customization and ease of use: A smart caller ID app allows users to change settings and make decisions that create a personalized and more individually effective program. With the Hiya app, you can customize how your caller identity shows up when calling other app users. It helps them recognize that it’s you and gets more of your calls answered. A lot of that is due to a simple integration with Facebook or LinkedIn. When you connect Hiya to one of your social profiles, you automatically get your name and photo updated on your caller identity.

Need to see more? Check out some of our other cool features like location and photo sharing by watching ourvideo.

You may not realize it, or want to admit it, but mobile phones have become our lifelines. Today, your mobile phone does much more than make phone calls. It’s your calendar, alarm clock, phone book, and portal to the Web, where other cherished items like email and social media live. So it’s no surprise then, that people are buying more of them. But with more phones in the wild, comes the flood of unknown numbers.

Let’s take a look at the spike in mobile phones and learn more about how Hiya helps you manage them by blocking unwanted calls.

Mobile phones are on the rise

The use of smartphones and tablets keeps growing. The number of worldwide mobile users is estimated to go from 4.3 billion in 2014 to 5.2 billion by 2019. That’s a 21% increase. Believe it or not, the average person in North America will own approximately 3 mobile devices by 2019. What these numbers tell us is simple: the amount of mobile phone numbers is rising rapidly.

What that means for you

Life would be easier if your mobile phone automatically identified names for incoming calls. Unfortunately, this only happens when a number is already stored in your phone book. And now, as mobile devices become more of a hot commodity that we all own, the chance of us getting caught off guard with a phone call from an unrecognized number is going to rise. No one wants to return a call to a telemarketer by accident or otherwise waste time with unknown numbers that are better off avoided. At the same time, the growing number of mobile devices—more than one per person on average—means it’s increasingly likely that when you receive a call, you won’t recognize the number, even if it’s a family member, close friend, or a manager at work. Sorting through these two very different types of calls is time consuming and frustrating without using the right tools.

Identify & block unwanted numbers

The old saying, where there’s a will there’s a way applies here. We developed Hiya to solve these issues. With Caller ID, you’ll finally have the ability to know who’s calling even if they aren’t in your phone book. It’s a free app for your Android that helps you make better decisions on which calls to answer. And as an increasing amount of mobile devices continue to flood the phone lines, you might find that you want to block certain numbers—spammers, scammers, and exes, to name a few. Caller ID allows you to block phone numbers of your choosing so they stop interrupting your day. Now’s your time to take control and send unwanted calls straight to voice mail and prevent them from ringing through.
Hiya has other cool features like location sharing and spam ID. Download it free on the Google Play Store.

Last week, Hiya was invited to attend the Do-Not-Call Law Enforcement Summit in Indiana. The summit was hosted by the nation’s Chief Spam Call prosecutor Greg Zoeller (also know as Indiana Attorney General). More than 50 other states’ AG offices, federal staff of the FCC and various law enforcement bureaus attended as well. For the first time, leading industry representatives of phone spam-blocking solutions were invited to share their real world experiences.

The overwhelming consensus was that we have come a long way in detecting and avoiding unwanted calls. Hiya couldn’t agree more. Just in the United States, Hiya screens more than 400 MM calls and protects consumers from about 20 MM unwanted calls every month. Samsung, the world largest smartphone manufacturer, has integrated Hiya’s Spam Detection in their new Samsung Galaxy S7 device and the majority of T-Mobile US users have access to spam detection as well.

However, more needs to be done to avail such phone spam protection solutions for more consumers. Despite the FCC’s recent decision to officially allow carriers to block unwanted calls on behalf of their subscribers, many of the nation’s top carriers are late in recognizing the urgency in addressing this issue for the sake of protecting their most valuable asset – the telephony network.

Indiana AG Greg Zoeller, Joe Bindbeutel, Chief Counsel of Missouri Consumer Protection division and Bikram Bandy, FTC Chief of the National Do Not Call Program urged both providers and carriers of phone spam protection solutions to come to terms and work together. Solutions from Hiya and other vendors are here, whether integrated into phones, carrier networks or as downloadable apps.

Addressing the state of the industry, Jonathan Mayer, the FTC’s technical expert on this topic, drew an excellent comparison with the rise and defeat of email spam. In comparison with the effectiveness of email spam filtering solutions, carrier’s call blocking offerings today are “over a decade behind”. So it’s time to act.

The pressure is in fact increasing on carriers. After the event’s AG Zoeller’s press conference, I talked to Timothy Marvin, who leads the nation’s largest Anti-Robocall campaign at Consumer Union. Educating carriers about call blocking solutions may soon shift to the next level. CA Congress Woman Jackie Speier introduced the “ROBOCOP” act, which would require carriers to offer such solutions free-of-charge.

You’ll also get an inside look of how Whitepages came to be from the founder himself, Alex Algard, who started it as a project back in 1997 when he was a student at Stanford, and what has now led to the spin off of Hiya!

Check out TechCrunch’s coverage and learn more about Hiya at the image below: